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Kelly Starling Lyons, a Raleigh mom and successful children's book author, will feature her latest book "Hope's Gift" at a special event on Thursday.

Lyons, along with illustrator Don Tate, will talk about the book, which commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. "Hope's Gift," published by Penguin, is a poignant story of a girl’s gift, a conch shell to comfort her when her father joins the Union Army to fight for their freedom, according to a description.